A FIFTEEN-year-old boy has been diagnosed with meningococcal, less than a week after three adults were hospitalised in South Australia with the disease.

SA Health confirmed the boy had been admitted to hospital and was in a stable condition on Tuesday afternoon and authorities have begun contacting people who may have had contact with the patient.

The boy has been diagnosed with meningococcal B-strain, the most common form of the illness since the introduction of a C-strain vaccine.

The latest case comes less than a week since three unrelated cases of meningococcal were identified.

A 20-year-old woman from Adelaide and a 31-year-old male and 51-year-old female from regional South Australia were admitted to hospital early last week.

One of those patients was diagnosed with B-strain, while another was confirmed as Y-strain.

The meningococcal strain of the third patient was not immediately identified.

There have now been 12 cases of invasive meningococcal identified in South Australia this year compared to 12 diagnoses at the same time last year.

Six cases were identified as B-strain, four W-strain and two Y-strain.

“Winter and Spring are commonly a higher risk time for meningococcal disease, but as the disease is only spread by close or lengthy contact, there is no increased public health risk,” a SA Health spokesman said.

SOURCE: The Advertiser